Christmas Tree Stands 101

In all the years I have been answering questions, concerns and comments from consumers in my role for NCTA as the person who answers those, several trends have always been trends. Which makes them something more like a truth really.

Anyway, one of those is that when people describe a “bad” experience with displaying a fresh Christmas tree, the MOST COMMON cause behind the negative experience is that they were using a crummy tree stand.  Either it was flimsy, not suited to their decorating style, not sized correctly to their tree, didn’t hold enough water, or some other simple design flaw.

Avoid the Most Common Mistake with Fresh Christmas Trees: Get a Good Tree Stand

Your Real Christmas Tree stand is an important part of your home’s holiday festivities. An obvious reason is that you can’t safely put up your tree without one. The good news is you have options for stands that can fit your space, your tree and personal preference or decorating style. NCTA recommends four types of stands because of their advantages listed below – and all of them include a large water reservoir that allows the plant to absorb as much water as needed.  Absorbing plenty of water keeps the tree from dehydrating, turning brown, and the needles falling too quickly.

Where there’s a tree, there’s often a stand. Use our website’s Tree Locator to find retailers in your area. Many tree lots and farms also offer a large selection of stand. Precautionary note: Remember to match the stand's recommended maximum weight and tree size capacity.

Four Types of Stands NCTA Recommends:

The Center Pin Stand

This type of stand has a pin sticking up in the center of the water pan. Ask your grower/retailer to drill a vertical hole in the end of your tree’s trunk with a special drill machine made specifically for this purpose. The tree will then slide over the stand’s pin without the need for additional support. This style is good for trees with very low branches, if you prefer them to be close to the floor. Another benefit of this stand is quick and easy set up, but you do have to find a retailer with the correct drill machine to use.

The Two-piece Stand

This stand has a t-bolt and lock system that helps hold the tree straight. The removable water reservoir (that’s the second “piece”) is easy to fill and can be removed separately after you take the tree and its attached piece out. This style makes it easy for one person to make adjustments to get the tree straight in a vertical position.

 

The Four Bolt Stand

The simple design of this stand makes it very easy to use. Made of various materials, this style is probably the most common. This type of stand is typically available in many sizes for trees that range in height from four to 20 feet. The four bolt stand is good for trees with long “handles,” meaning the lower branches have been removed. It is also designed with a “lip” along the bottom, which catches any water spilled when filling.  Many people find it easier to attach the stand initially when the tree is on its side, but only tighten the bolts down about 80%.  Then set it vertical, adjust the tree’s angle and finish tightening the bolts.  Do not be afraid of over-tightening the bolts, even if they penetrate the bark of the tree.  This will NOT limit the tree’s ability to absorb water.

The “Clamp” Stand

This style has a foot pedal that adjusts the clamp and claw system and can make it easier for one person to set up their tree. It typically holds trees up to 9 feet high with trunks up to 7 inches in diameter. The stand's base holds up to 1½ gallons of water, making refilling easier. It is also a good fit for people with pets – they can’t easily get to or drink the water because it is enclosed within the structure of the stand.

Giving trees back (to Mother Nature)

Many recycling programs are wrapping up. 12th Night has passed. If you still need to get your farm-grown REAL Christmas tree into the local plant material recycling program, please do so. Remember folks, don't try this with a plastic fake tree. Here's another great example of a well-organized, community-wide tree recycling program implemented by a non-profit group in the Reno/Sparks, NV area. http://ktmb.org/christmas-tree-recycling/

 

It's been fascinating over the years to see so many creative and innovative and productive uses of the trees after the holidays.  It seems to me that as programs find more ways to recycle trees, there's more interest in recycling in general and I've had more inquiries and interview requests about it.  In case you haven't seen it, we have compiled a brief sampling of some of the programs around North America we have seen over the years.  They can be found on this page of the main site http://realchristmastrees.org/dnn/AllAboutTrees/HowtoRecycle.aspx 

 

Being an angler, my favorite programs are those where trees are used to create fish habitat, boost the natural eco-system of a body of fresh water, and improve fishing prospects.  I wrote in detail about how the whole process works back in 2009...check it out if interested http://realtreetalk.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-do-trees-help-fish.html 

 

This past year, I did an interview with NPR's Adam Cole about Christmas tree recycling; it's history and evolution from "a few scattered programs" to something that's now ubiquitous and commonplace.  He very cleverly compiled some Christmas tree recycling stories into a poem.  You can read it or listen to it here http://www.npr.org/2014/01/04/259436930/tree-incarnation-christmas-trees-return-to-nature-a-poem.

 

Christmas tree recycling -- REAL ONES GROWN ON A FARM -- are a great success story.  It's something to point out the next time someone mistakenly suggests that they made a better environmental choice by buying a plastic, tree-shaped decoration because they can re-use it.  That's very shortsighted, because in a matter of years (maybe 6-9) those non-biodegradable, manufactured products will end up in a landfill.  Forever.  Real Christmas trees on the other hand, as 100% biodegradable plants, will always decompose and return nutrients to the Earth, as all plants do.

Learning is Fun!

Real Trees 4 Kids! Curriculum STILL a Great Resource After Many Years

We recently heard from a group of students working on a summer project thanking NCTA for the RT4K! curriculum, which they used for their research.

Here’s an excerpt: I wanted to email you on behalf of my AP Summer Bio group.  We really enjoyed you page, http://realtrees4kids.org/sixeight/home.htm ... it helped us on our Ecosystems & Biome Final Project.  You have some great resources on there!  Ms. Willman (our group tutor) suggested we write to you to thank you, and tell you how helpful we found it.

That curriculum was developed by a professional curriculum designer as part of an NCTA project funded by RealTree Program donations many years ago.  While NCTA no longer has the funding to create updated / new material in the curriculum, it’s still maintained and available to teachers and students for free at www.realtrees4kids.org . 

If you have school tours at your farm or business, or if you work with local schools at all, make sure they know that resource is still available and it’s still valuable.

 

Fake Plastic Trees May be Challenged in Court

For many, many years now, purveyors of plastic, tree-shaped decorations have claimed to consumers that their product was “fire retardant” or even “fire-proof” ….in stark contrast to a farm-grown Christmas Tree.  They used this message very effectively in marketing campaigns and printed the words on their products packaging.  If you scoff at how effective this message has been, consider that every time consumers were asked on the annual poll to list any reasons they chose not to decorate a fresh, farm-grown Christmas tree, the 2^nd or 3^rd most common reason listed has ALWAYS been “fire safety concerns.”  It’s just a reality now that many people won’t purchase a real Christmas tree because they are convinced that it could burst into flames.

And the flip side is, they purchase a plastic tree-shaped decoration in the belief that the words on the product’s box are true: they are flame retardant and won’t catch on fire.  Well, the reality is that plastic trees will in fact burn if exposed to a large enough heat source/flame.  Here’s an example of one that caught fire in 2011 in a school in Pennsylvania http://bit.ly/1fjhZ9p.

NCTA was contacted by a law firm in the Southeast a few months ago which was filing a suit against a fake tree manufacturer for their claim that their product was fireproof, when it caught fire.  We don’t know the details of the incident or case in question yet, but know that NCTA is working with the plaintiffs as much as possible.

Again, it’s important to note that the funds to pay for this effort come from both the TIP program and RealTree donations.

Trees, environment and drooping?

We got an eamil from Char Miller of Pomona College, sharing his recent article outlining the environmental impact of plastic tree-shaped decorations, vs farm-grown Real Christmas Trees.

Dear colleagues - thought you and your colleagues would enjoy this column - please share and post!

Click here to read it.

 

Char Miller, Director
Environmental Analysis Program
W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis
Pomona College

Thanks for sharing Char.

It’s yet another example of how I feel that the “debate” about environmental impacts of growing, displaying and recycling a Real Christmas Tree vs. buying and eventually throwing away a plastic tree-shaped decoration is no longer even a debate.  It’s just a myth the plastic peddlers keep desperately trying to confuse people with.  It’s sad to see their duplicity and disingenuousness in the product promo for a plastic tree-shaped decoration including the phrase “Save a tree!” …printed on the product’s cardboard box.

I would disagree however with Mr. Lowenstein’s assertion that buying a tree from a farm labeled organic is better for the environment.  But overall, it’s another environmental group that supports Christmas tree farms and their sustainable, recyclable crop.

Here's a feel-good story from the Trees for Troops program.  It's a video produced and shared by American soldiers stationed in Kuwait receiving a donated Christmas tree from their home state of Indiana!
http://www.dvidshub.net/video/193514/indiana-soldiers-receive-christmas-trees-kuwait

This was an interesting question about a tree "changing shape":

From: trixneron

Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 6:40 PM
To: NCTA-Rick Dungey
Subject: Droopy Christmas Tree
I have never had this happen to me before, my Christmas tree is droopy.  The water tub is full and has been for days, we trimmed the bottom and  drilled a hole in the tree before we put it up but everyday the bottom branches are getting closer and closer to the floor.  It's not dry or brittle at all, the leaves are soft and pliable, all in all it seems healthy.  Have you ever heard of this, and is there anything I can do to help perk it up?

As the plant tissue warms and the plant comes out of dormancy and it takes up moisture, the tissue will return to its "summer-like" condition. Meaning, the plant tissue will naturally become more pliable, bendable and flexible.  I don’t think there's anything wrong with your tree at all, the branches are returning to their natural position.  If you don't like that look, you can trim them from the tree, avoid hanging anything heavy on them which increases the bend, but no...there's not really anything you can do to cause them to point upright.

Finally, a couple photos to share.  First, you've all heard the phrase "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" from a popular Christmas carol.  But have you ever seen one at harvest?  This is what they look like before they "dance around" a roasting pan.

And here's my 2012 fresh, farm-grown Christmas Tree!

local recycling

Often, we are asked, “How does NCTA promote Christmas tree recycling programs?”  In fact, tomorrow I’m on a webinar panel for Waste Age magazine talking about Christmas tree recycling programs.  As I’m sure most readers of this blog are aware, after Christmas, Real Trees can be recycled in a number of ways, such as becoming mulch for gardens and trails, habitats for fish or barriers to reduce shoreline erosion.

But nowadays, almost all Real Trees are recycled either in community programs or in someone’s garden or yard.  Recycling programs are done on a very local level.  Local tree recycling programs can be easily found through the Internet and in local news media.  We don’t have a resource specific to finding your local tree recycling program.

For example, where I live in St. Louis city, I received the following email from the city recycling program through my neighborhood association E-newsletter:

From: Recy, Cle [mailto:recycle@stlouis-mo.gov]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 10:21 AM
Subject: City of St. Louis Recycling Program Blue Bin News December 2012

Christmas Tree Recycling in St. Louis

The City will be offering Christmas tree recycling from December 27, 2012 until January 13, 2013 at the following loca­tions:

FOREST PARK, Lower Muny Opera parking lot.

O’FALLON PARK, West Florissant and Holly, picnic ground #4.

CARONDELET PARK, Grand and Holly Hills, area between gate and recycling containers.

These trees will be recycled into mulch, which is then available for use by City residents. Please keep in mind the following upon disposal: Remove all ornaments, tinsel, lights, and tree stand. Do not put the tree in a plastic bag or cover it. Wreaths and pine roping are not accepted at these sites. A City of St. Louis Refuse Division--Recycling Program Publication Reader Submissions Welcomed! recycle@stlouis-mo.gov

 

Now, that tells me all I need to know about how to recycle my tree after Christmas.  It probably tells you nothing if you don’t live in St. Louis.  But I bet a similar piece of information about recycling trees where you live can be found just as easily.  Whether through E-communications or a simple online search.

 

Peter Mason emailed NCTA to share the story about a cool project in the Seattle area.  Here is his note:

 

I volunteer for a community based environmental restoration group in Seattle, Friends of Madrona Woods. This year we are running a small fundraiser selling living trees to community members, who then donate them back to be planted in our public urban greenbelt after the holidays.

For more info on Madrona Woods restoration (where I volunteer) see: www.madronawoods.org

 

Sounds like a cool program, thanks for sharing Peter.

Thanks and Scents

We received this very kind message along with this photo from a soldier stationed in Afghanistan.  You gotta check this out and I challenge you to not be moved by it.

http://www.facebook.com/Trees4Troops?ref=stream

We received an interesting email from a tree farm in South Carolina responding to our weekly request to farms and lots to let us know how tree sales are going.

“Because of new customers, I had to order additional stands today from our supplier. The salesperson stated that this is happening all over the country. Additional orders are coming in to cover new customers who have not had a real tree in years and need a stand.” 

Well, that’s certainly a good sign.  And it also gives me a chance to reiterate the importance of having a good tree stand.  I see a lot of bad stands in stores, but there are also many good ones.  What makes a good one?  Water holding capacity (at LEAST 1 gallon for a typical 6 foot tall tree) and stability are the two most important qualities.  After that, choose a style you prefer.  Some prefer a center pin style where the lot or farm will drill a hole in the center of your tree’s trunk (this does NOT affect its ability to absorb water).  Some prefer the 4-bolt style.  There are also “claw” style and 2-piece bowl and stand style.

Here’s a question we get sometimes about a strange phenomenon, with my reply in Blue.

-----Original Message-----
From: Renee
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 9:47 PM
To: NCTA-Rick Dungey
Subject: Have a really bad odor

Hello,

This is the first year I have had a Christmas tree smell really bad. It is making my whole home smell. I'm worried my kids are going to get sick from it. I wanted to know if it will go away?  Let me know if you can give me any tips.

Hello Renee.

There could be a number of things going on.  Commonly, a source of a bad smell is something people put in the water in the stand.   However, you didn’t mention that so I have to assume that’s not the case in your situation.  It is possible that the tree was harvested, shipped and stored in a humid, moist condition and that can be causing the bad smell.

While many species are described as having varying scents, only one species is commonly described as having a “bad” scent and that is the White Spruce.

If your tree is not that species, then the added moisture in the plant tissue from the water the tree is absorbing will boost its natural scent.  But sense of smell is very subjective and trees are each genetically unique. Try to snap or crush a few needles on the interior/back and that should release some aroma most would describe as "pine-ey" or "Christmas tree smell".

I'd need more information to give you more guidance than that.

And speaking of Christmas tree scent, here’s a nice segue.  Sara Altshul recently posted an article on Health.com about scientific evidence showing the smell of a Christmas tree is not only emotionally good for you, but also physically good for you.  “Pine and other evergreen trees, as it turns out, are loaded with compounds that have a variety of positive effects on the human body,” states Altshul.  Check out the article.  Get a fresh, farm-grown Christmas tree and be healthy. 

Yet another thing you can’t get from a plastic, tree-shaped decoration posing as a Christmas tree.  Just sayin'...

 

 

Farms and Conservation

Read a great article recently in the Missouri Conservationist magazine about Christmas Tree farms working in conjunction with the conservation department.  Provides great information about farms starting out and how they operate.  One of the featured farms is Meert Tree Farm, members of NCTA.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/114456728/MO-Dept-of-Conserv-Article

It's tree time again!

Thanksgiving is the earliest it can be on the calendar this year (Nov 22) so we're already at "tree time." We thought we'd share a few tidbits from the autumn before many tree lots and tree farms open up on Friday. Interesting email question from October, with my reply in GREEN.

From: Alyssabeth
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 4:13 AM
To: NCTA-Rick Dungey
Subject: Fake Tree Hazard

Hello,

My name is Alyssabeth.  This is my daughter first Christmas and she will be 9 months old.  We bought a fake tree a few years back before we had any kiddos.

My concern is I went online to find out about Christmas tree safety for the little ones only to find out that most fake trees contain lead. And so do Christmas lights. I am now freaking out and ready to toss my tree and all the lights into the trash. I don't know if i should because my Christmas tree box box and such say nothing about containing lead. I am worried. My tree is from China I purchased it at a retail store called Wal-Mart. Its a 6.5 foot Jackson Spruce Model Number : M-P70501.

Basically i want to know if i should worry or what i should do. About Christmas lights as well. 

Please tell me you can help me out here with advice and such.  Thank you for your time and consideration

Here’s some of the information we have gathered about the plastic, tree-shaped decorations.  http://realchristmastrees.org/dnn/Education/FakeTrees.aspx

The one thing I can guarantee is that a fresh, farm-grown Christmas Tree is a plant, and therefore does NOT contain lead.

Here are some other things going on as we head into the harvest and sales season.

Trees for Troops kicked off it's 8th year this week with the shipment of trees bound for troops deployed overseas.  Read about it here Trees for Troops Facebook Page

The White House Christmas Tree will be delivered and presented on Friday, November 23.  Look for great stories about the tree and this year's Grand Champion farm presenting the tree, Peak Farms from Jefferson, NC.  The Estes family are the owners.  Great people and a great story.

The NCTA web site got an overhaul this year, both aesthetically and programming-wise.  The "tree locator" has a new functionality based on a map generator, rather than just a list generator.  Check it out.  www.realchristmastrees.org

It won't be long now before we start getting lots of email questions about trees ...how to pick one, how to care for one, how to recycle one.  You can browse old blog entries to see some of the more common questions we get and the answers to see if the answer to your question can be found.  Of course, you are always welcome to send us an email anyway.  We'll be happy to answer it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas Tree and Drought

Lots of media stories out there about how drought in some areas are "hurting Christmas trees". Not a lot of understanding how a Christmas tree farm is managed though. Summer weather patterns don't really impact trees harvested later this year. Those are more mature trees with well-established root systems so they're not as susceptible to seasonal weather patterns as are younger trees. Low rain fall, excessive rain fall, early cold snap, bugs, disease...any number of those types of environmental factors could cause a tree to go into dormancy earlier than typical. Regardless, by the time they are harvested around Thanksgiving or later, the environmental conditions on the farm have changed much since summer time anyway. The seedlings farmers planted in the Spring however, can be damaged by excessive or insufficient rain fall. Mortality rates of newly planted seedlings can go up due to weather extremes. This is the risk any farmer faces regardless of the crop being raised. Consumers should not worry about the quality of trees they can find this year no matter what the weather was like in the summer.

Guest Blog from New Jersey Farmer

Guest blog from a farmer in New Jersey. We're not advocating one way or the other, just thought it would be interesting to share.

Subject: anti-farm laws not the answer Dear farmer friend, I received a request from an animal rights group seeking my farm’s support of a bill in the NJ State Senate. The authors of the bill claim that it will outlaw farmers’ abuse of animals by “using pens so small that nursing pigs cannot stand up or lie down.” It seems that they also feel that this law will “level” the playing field between those big greedy corporate conglomerates and us nice little friendly family farms (kind of a clever way to get our support, don’t you think?). I know of not a single NJ farm where pigs are in pens so small that they cannot stand up or lie down. Perhaps this group does. If so, I wish they would tell me the name and address of those farms. Although I no longer raise livestock (I grow choose and cut Christmas trees), I have had many years of experience raising pigs in the past. It is important to provide appropriate pens for nursing sows so that baby piglets are not crushed by the mother. What may appear to the inexperienced observer as a “cruel” process of restricting a sow’s movement is actually a method of keeping the babies alive. When I raised pigs, the farrowing pens were about 10’ x 10’ and had, what we referred to as, baby bumpers on all sides. The mother would lean against a wall and basically “flop down” to a prone position. Without the bumpers, babies would get squished without the mother pig even realizing what she had done. There may be a very small minority of farmers who actually abuse animals. That, I find despicable. But there are already laws on the books and more than adequate agencies to enforce those laws. I don’t buy into the concept that family farms (like mine) are in conflict with “industrial operations,” as this group implies. There is more than enough room for all of us in this country and I do not consider farms larger than my own to be the “enemy.” I have always been very reluctant to support new restrictions on agricultural endeavors. It’s hard enough being a farmer these days without “Big Brother” placing restriction after restriction on our activities. I believe that farmers (both small and large operations) have the best interest of animals as a top priority. I am sure that members of this group have only the best intentions in promoting new laws regarding farming. However, I have found that so many of the animal “rights” organizations simply don’t understand (or don’t wish to understand) the nature of farming. Farmers are good people. And left alone, we will do the right thing...for our farms and for our animals. It is for that reason that Shale Hills Farm cannot endorse this legislation. Mike Garrett Shale Hills Farm Sussex, NJ

Learning in a new language

A student named Anna Galovich translated one of the lesson plans in the RealTrees4Kids! online curriculum for a communications class project and it's really good. Kind of a neat story.

Here's the original lesson plan in RT4K! http://www.realtrees4kids.org/sixeight/cycles.htm and here's the translation page she did http://webhostinggeeks.com/science/realtrees-4kids-et

Factory or Farm?

So you often read comments here or on the NCTA site saying something like "you either have a real tree grown on a farm or a plastic decoration made in a factory" ...something like that.

Factory vs farm.

Pretty clear choice really.

So this article came out describing a factory in Thailand that makes plastic tree decorations out of raw materials made in China and even it's having a hard time competing again factories in China making the same products.
http://bit.ly/vXseol

I'm sure David Addington at the Heritage Foundation would be proud. According to him, real Christmas trees grown here by American farm families don't have an image problem and don't need to do any marketing to compete with fake trees made in China.

Americana History

Quick post...


Someone sent this link to us. It has some awesome old photos of shop fronts during Christmas time and old family photos with Christmas trees during the 20s. Check it out: http://www.papatedsplace.com/Christmas1920s.html


I found this awesome commentary article by Brad Stanhope. The comments are particularly amusing.http://bit.ly/skfTfB


Airports can be...well, to be honest, somewhat drab and depressing. But sometimes, when they are decked out in Christmas decor they can be uplifting. Earlier this month I had to travel to a meeting and connecting through O'Hare airport in Chicago I was impressed with the terminal for K and H concourses. I actually didn't mind connecting through O'Hare that day. The photo is from my phone so it's not the best but I wanted to share anyway. Talk about "decking the halls"!

Santa rides a bike?

This is the funniest thing I’ve read all year: "'People just aren't expecting Santa Claus on a bike, to show up with a boombox playing Christmas tunes, with a Christmas tree on the back and a pulled-pork sandwich in his hand,' said Toraldo.”



Well, um…no I guess they wouldn’t expect that. Check out this article about a guy who delivers a Christmas tree and a pulled pork sandwich on a bicycle. I don't make this stuff up people.



In other news, congrats to the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx for delivering the 100,000th free farm-grown Christmas tree to a military family this year through the Trees for Troops program.



On a less happy note, stories like this just burn me up (no pun intended). So in an all-too-common scenario, a local TV news station is getting a firefighter to light a Christmas tree on fire so they can do a "fire officials warn about the dangers of Christmas tree fires ..." blah blah blah. This guy had to use 2 road flares to get any kind of burning going, and then says "we're not trying to scare people away from getting a tree ..." Well, duh ... THAT'S EXACTLY what you are accomplishing when you do that!



So what's the message then? ... don't bring 2 lit road flares into your home??!!



GRRRR...that makes me angry! I wonder if David Addington at the Heritage Foundation still thinks Christmas trees "don't have an image problem." I was talking about him with a reporter at the Wall Street Journal yesterday who was writing about the Christmas tree industry and I said "you should call him up and ask him what kind of Christmas tree is displayed inside his home." That would be interesting to know. I bet he has a fake tree.



Yeah, and misinformation about Christmas trees is not a new phenomenon that tree farmers have to deal with. It's been going on for years, ever since factories started making big green toilet bowl brushes and calling them "Christmas trees." Check out this story of a promotional effort to promote fresh, farm-grown Christmas trees from 1969 ... make sure and play the song and listen to the lyrics, it's hilarious.



A couple interesting questions this week:

On a split trunk...
From: Jeffrey
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 12:02 PM
To: info
Subject: Is this tree damaged?

We purchased a Fraser Fir 2 nights ago and had the nursery fresh cut it for us. We put it into a tree stand and filled the reservoir with water. Since then, I've noticed the tree has barely absorbed any of the water. One thing - I found that the tree has a split in the trunk that rises from the bottom to more than half way up. Is this a fatal flaw and should I have it replaced, or am I barking up the wrong tree so to speak?

We've purchased Frasers for years from the same nursery and have not deviated from our normally successful tree standards.

It does not affect the ability of the tree to take up water through a fresh cut. The reason for the trunk to split is the field conditions prior to harvest. You did everything right. I would monitor the water level for the next few days closely. It can take a while for the tree to start moving water up its system. I put my tree up this past Friday evening and it didn't start taking up water until last night.

From: g_m_reiland@
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 5:31 PM
Subject: tree stand
I have a quick question and was hoping to get information from the experts. I just purchased a fraser fir and brought it in the house this morning. It is in the stand and is sitting pretty flush to the bottom. I told my husband we need to raise it up a bit so water can flow under and he said it's unnecessary and that it's supposed to sit flush so that the tree is more secure. What is your opinion?

While it's best to have the entire surface area of the cut tree trunk wet at all times, I don't think you can create a water-tight seal by having the cut surface flat in the bottom of the stand. Water is absorbed on a molecular level by the plant tissue and it most likely will be able to do so in this case. Most tree stands do have some kind of prong or spike in the bottom to help with both of your points, exposure to water and stability.

From: Michael
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011 11:20 PM
Subject: Tallest Christmas Tree Question
Hello. I've been watching a Christmas tree special on television, and have learned that the tallest Christmas tree in a private residence is at the Vanderbilt home, and is "three stories high." Next year, I'd like to try to beat that in my home. Do you have any information on the tallest Christmas tree ever displayed in a private residence? I'm pretty certain I could erect a tree well over 25 feet in my home, which is a concrete monolithic dome home in Las Vegas.If you can come up with any information or links I can research, I would appreciate it!

Sorry Michael, that's not something we would be able to verify or track in any way. In other words, I have no idea how they can prove the "three stories high" tree you saw on the special is indeed the tallest?

Hey check out my tree I put up and decorated this past Friday! Isn't she a beee-yoot?

Interaction and endorsement

I got a great email from Alison this week, providing some feedback about our web site and the way we provide information about Christmas Trees. Here's our interaction:

Hi Alison. Interesting points, thanks for writing in… but missing key facts /considerations. Elaborations below in blue to specific points….

From: Alison
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 9:50 PM
To: info
Subject: Hi

Just was looking through all your arguments about real vs. fake trees. You might want to at least be a bit more honest,
-- there’s nothing on the site that isn’t factual or sourced / linked if it’s opinion …can’t be much more honest than that

and a little less obvious about which one you’re pushing.
-- really? You think we should be less obvious? I think being pretty up-front and obvious about what our association stands for and believes in is the right way to go…subterfuge or subtlety would not serve our purposes I feel.

Maybe at least throw in the facts that real trees take a lot of water,
-- so? …so do house plants and pets and people ….so what? What’s the point?

and a whole bunch of fuel to truck the trees to their final resting place.
-- not necessarily. Some people buy a tree at a local farm, and many people in the U.S. and Canada live near areas where Christmas trees are grown. Besides, if you chastised people every time they purchased an agricultural product that had to be hauled to them, well, you would be chastising pretty much every person that eats bananas north of Mexico, every person who eats broccoli south of roughly the 35th parallel, etc. Personally, I’m glad I live in a place where I can buy agricultural products from all over.

Also that it totally depends on how long people keep their fake trees. That in itself changes everything.
-- no it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter how long you keep a fake tree, it will eventually end up in a landfill where it will NEVER decompose. 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? 100 years? The Earth will be here a lot longer than you or I and it will have to deal with all the non-biodegradable products we keep manufacturing, like artificial Christmas trees, instead of a the real thing, planted and grown on a farm, replaced by another seedling, then decomposed back into natural elements as all plants are.

Just thought you should know that you might be banking on human stupidity a bit too much,
-- I feel just the opposite Alison. I’m banking on people being smart enough to separate myths and misperceptions from facts.

but then again you might get lucky. Hope you guys make tons of money this year, enjoy mine, and spend it on coming up with more witty Christmas tree propaganda. Alison

Well, at least she thinks I'm witty.

So what do you think? Tell us if you feel as Alison does that we aren't honest on our website or that we should be less obvious in our attempt to convince people who display a Christmas tree to use a real one grown on a farm and to stop buying more plastic and metal fake trees.

Oh, one more quick thing this morning. I noticed the fake tree people again trying to tout an "environmental study" saying a fake tree was better for the environment ... when are they going to give this up? What do the real environmentalists say? Check for yourself, you can't get more "tree hugger-y" than the American Forests organization: http://bit.ly/vUJQTn

sneaky snake

ha....thought this was funny. If you get a fake tree out of storage, check for snakes when you set it up.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/03/1687693/hiss-the-season-to-be-jolly.html

Funny (and disturbing) question:

From: Martha
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 7:19 AM
Subject: Very Strange Tree Question

Hi Rick~
I have been searching all over the internet this morning about something the man who helped me purchase a Christmas tree at Home Depot told me last night. He said that many of the trees they get are cut months in advance, are bundled and then submerged in lakes where they freeze and are taken out when ready to be shipped. He said many of the trees they get are full of ice and debris from the lakes...cans, bags, even fish skeletons! I had never heard of this and was fascinated. Is this true? Thanks!

That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. Can you imagine how much extra work and equipment it would take to pull off such a thing? And I can’t even imagine how awful a tree would look if it went through that. Tree harvest starts in mid-November and continues until about a week before Christmas when most retail outlets want their last delivery of trees. Harvesting, baling, loading and hauling is a very efficient process and most trees get to their destination within 3 or 4 days.

From: Gretchen 
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 11:53 AM
Subject: Question

My greetings to you!
I just purchased a fresh cut Christmas tree. Unfortunately, when I placed the tree in the stand, I realized the tree is too fresh. Despite tighten the tree stand screws, the tree is ‘slipping’ out of place. In double checking what could be causing the difficulty, I concluded that it is not the stand itself, the trunk size, or not having tightened the screws. Instead, It seems, the tree is still to “wet” from sap?

Is there way to “dry” the tree or do you have an alternate solution?

Well, you could leave it out of water for a few weeks, but that’s a bad idea. The 4 screw type stands really should have a plastic/rubber tip on the end of the screws so they don’t penetrate the bark as much.  There are other styles of stand beside the 4 screw if you want to look into that, but if not, I would recommend tightening the screws even more if you need to for the tree to be more stable.  Penetrating the bark with those small screws won’t hurt the tree or really inhibit its ability to absorb water.


From: joel
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 7:19 AM
Subject: Christmas Tree misting question...

I hope that subject line makes it through your spam filters...

My wife and I just bought a 7ft Fraser fir last night, and I'm trying to do everything I can to keep it alive for as long as possible.  My wife has decided that if we can't keep this one alive 'til Christmas, then we're going to plastic next year, and I REALLY don't want to have a plastic Christmas Tree.  I think you're probably on my side on that one.

Anyhow, the clerk at the tree place told me that Frasers (maybe all evergreens? Dunno.) take in enough water through the needles and bark that regularly misting them can help to keep them alive for quite a bit longer.  If this is true, I'm all for spraying the thing down as much as I can.

So.  Is this actually true?  If so, to what degree (if it's only going to give me an extra 2 days, I'm not sure it's worth the effort)?  And are there any concerns beyond the obvious (making sure the lights are off and will be off until the water is either absorbed or evaporated, being careful of drenching the presents and ornaments that water may damage, etc)?  Or was he just trying to help me feel better about the potential life span of my cut tree?

Please help me keep this tree alive so I can help keep a real tree in my home.  Thanks!


You guess correctly, I would never get a plastic tree.  Ask your wife is she makes you buy a plastic Christmas Tree, then is it OK to also buy some plastic flowers and just give those to her every Valentines Day.

OK, if I come across as perturbed, it's not directed at you at all.  Stories like yours make me frustrated that people in the industry, for which I work, are sometimes our own worst enemy.  That guy at the tree place is completely wrong.  Spraying water on a tree will do NOTHING to improve moisture level or needle retention, it will simply get your tree and anything under it wet.  Trees don't absorb water in that way.  It will absorb water, at a molecular level, through the stem (trunk) of the plant and move moisture up and out the branches and foliage as it evaporates OUT OF the foliage.  It doesn't work in reverse.

If you got the trunk in water within 3 to 6 hours of a fresh cut off the bottom, then that's what you should do.  Keep the stand filled with water so the cut surface is not exposed to air.
Full care tips page http://www.christmastree.org/care.cfm

Hey tree questions ....woo-hoo!

Oh goodness ... some people get all worked up over the slightest things. Someone with Fox News called me today and said she was doing a story on the "controversy about what to call a Christmas Tree." Apparently there's a big hub-bub in Rhode Island (and a few other states) about this.

I recalled that several years back we asked something about that on our annual consumer poll to gauge just how much of a controversy it is. The question appeared on our Jan. 2006 poll (that would be the 2005 season to us). It was:

There recently has been much talk about how to refer to a Christmas tree. Some people say "Christmas Tree" is appropriate while others think that "Holiday Tree" is the right way to talk about the trees. In your own opinion, which name do you think is more appropriate to use?

97% answered “Christmas Tree”
3% answered “Holiday Tree”

Yeah, now I remember … at that point I was thinking “so what’s the controversy?” Oh well, as long as people buy a real one grown on a farm and not a fake, plastic one made in a factory, that's the important thing.

Here are some of the common questions coming in this week now that many people already got their tree for this year.

From: Daisy
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:28 PM
Subject: Christmas Tree Question

Hi, I’m hoping you can help me. We purchased a fresh 7’ Christmas Tree 2 days ago. The sellers claimed the tree was just cut the day before. Once we got home, we cut off 3” from the bottom, placed it in the stand, and immediately filled it with water. In past years, I recall a tree drinking A LOT during the first week where I need to fill the stand twice/day before the water gets too low. However, with this tree, it’s not drinking much water. It has only been going down an inch/day.

Was this tree cut far more than 2 days before we purchased it? I’m concerned it’ll completely dry out before Christmas. Before I decorate the tree, should we throw this one out and get another one?

Even if the tree was harvested more than 2 days ago, it has been in a state of dormancy since late summer / early fall. The rate of water absorption will vary throughout the time it is displayed. Some days it will absorb a lot, some days not so much. This is normal. It can take some time for the plant to come out of a state of dormancy. Just keep the stand filled with water because it can absorb A LOT of water in a short period of time once it starts.

From: Harlan
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:39 AM
Subject: Christmas tree question

We bought an 8 foot Fraser Fur, that unfortunately, required cutting off several large branches so it would fit in the stand, which, made the tree somewhat sparse on the bottom. I would like to drill a few small holes in the trunk, above the stand, to fill in the bottom of the tree, with the branches I previously cut off. Is that OK to do? I will not drill the holes deep enough to weaken the trunk. The branches have been sitting in water. Will they last through Christmas or dry out too fast?

Think of the tree branches in the same way as cut flowers. The longer the stem of the plant is out of water, the quicker it will dry out.

From: Jon
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 8:55 PM
Subject: Cut tree displayed outside in cold weather

Our house is small. We would like to put a real tree out side on our front porch. We live in Maine and would purchase the tree on Saturday, December 10th, and would like to display it until January 2nd. It will be below freezing much of the time. What recommendations do you have for keeping a cut tree from drying out in this situation?

I'd recommend displaying the tree in a water holding stand, even if it's very cold outside. If the water freezes in the stand, that won't hurt the tree, and it will have water available if it does get warm enough to absorb some.

Keep the questions coming!

Email Overload

Actual email from this week:

From: Daniel
Sent: November 13, 2011 7:41 AM
Subject: Fee

Just watching the news where they say there would be NO fee for a Christmas tree at least for this year. I do think it is a religious discrimination.

Will there be a fee for raising goats or sheep that is used in the Islam religion?
Will there be a fee on the turkeys that are raised for Thanksgiving?
Sincerely,
Daniel

Wow, I couldn't even formulate a response to that one. Each year, there are only a handful of emails I just simply don't answer - and this was the first of 2011.

This whole Christmas Tree tax thing has broken down into the surreal on so many fronts. All because one blogger with some kind of ulterior motive decided to call the checkoff program a tax on trees, even though it isn't. Some people just simply refuse to see the facts, even when presented with them in a clear and concise manner.

I thought of an analogy for this:

If we go to the zoo and look at a giraffe, we're both looking at the same giraffe. But then you might say, "I think that's a mule."

I would respond, "No, it's not, it's a giraffe. We're both looking right at it, and mules are different from giraffes."

But you could still say, "I don't care. I think it's a mule and I'm going to call it a mule from now on no matter what you say."

And you do just that. You tell everyone who walks by that they're looking a mule. Maybe you even stand on a fencepost and shout it as loud as you can.

Well, that doesn't magically make the giraffe a mule just because you call it that. It just makes you wrong.

But the moral of this story is that unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who just believe what they are told. And if you tell them often enough and loud enough "that's a mule," some of them will believe you, even if they're looking right at the giraffe. For this audience, I just don't think it's worth it to keep replying, "It's not a tax" ... they're never going to believe us.

And then, the majority of people renew my faith. Here's a typical exchange:

From: Will
Sent: November 9, 2011 1:17 PM
Subject: the christmas tree tax

Last night when I first read about this, I KNEW it had to be some trade group behind this ... and it turns out it was YOUR group! Gee ... I wonder how much money you gave to or promised to give to Obama for this little favor ... hmmm.

And good thing it's been 'delayed." Why does your group even exist??? You're just trying to sponge off the taxpayers.

Here was my answer:

Agricultural producers have created promotional boards like this one since 1966, and they date back to the Johnson Administration. There are more than 20 such boards in existence currently, and some well-known promotional boards have developed successful advertising and promotion campaigns, including the "Got Milk?", "Pork: The Other White Meat" and the "Incredible Edible Egg."

There are zero tax dollars involved here. USDA bills all costs associated with these promotional efforts to the industry groups that create the boards.

These promotional boards are created when the industry gathers together and decide to petition USDA to create a promotional board. USDA reviews the petition, opens it up to industry and public comment, and then creates the board if it meets certain criteria. That is what happened here.

Fresh cut Christmas Tree producers have long been concerned about losing market share to artificial tree makers and foreign imports. In response, the domestic producers decided, as an industry and as is their right, to fund a promotional effort, similar to how the dairy processors created the "Got Milk?" campaign. They want to self-assess this 15-cent fee on domestic Christmas Trees for producers who sell more than 500 trees a year.

To ensure fairness, and as required by law, the USDA works with the industry at the start of this effort to ensure that consumers or growers are not gouged and to provide ongoing oversight to ensure the program meets its stated goals.

Many producers, from dairy farmers to livestock producers to blueberry growers, have created research and promotion boards because it increases their markets and they prosper.

Will wrote back:
From: Will
Sent: November 9, 2011 4:26 PM
Subject: RE: the christmas tree tax

Thanks for the reply. And I stand corrected re this being a tax. Thanks. But ... you gotta admit ... you've gotten some bad PR on this thing. Not a great time to be raising prices, or having your group tied to Obama. Anyway, good luck. And thanks again for the reply.

FWIW, I get a fresh tree every year.

Thanks, Will. It was folks like you who kept me going the past week or so.

Hey, I've got an idea. Next week, let's start talking about trees, shall we? We're only one week away from sales season opening. Woo-hoo!

What the Checkoff Means to Me

A Guest Post from a Tree Farmer:

My husband and I have been in the Christmas Tree business since 1971, and I just wanted to take a moment to respond to some of the recent questions about the Christmas Tree checkoff. We are a small Christmas tree farm in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. We are primarily wholesalers, but have been retailers and now also have a small Choose & Cut operation. Our soils are suited to growing Christmas trees and not much else.

A checkoff is a program where commodity groups can help themselves to better their industry. A couple of the longest running ones are cotton and beef. They formed because there were incredible challenges in their industries that no one state or company could answer. When I was in high school, Sunday nights were spent ironing clothes for the next week at school. The cotton checkoff paid for the research that made permanent press cotton fabric possible. Do you remember how cotton clothes used to fade? The Cotton Checkoff paid for the research that paid for that, too. The cotton checkoff was formed because their industry was being overwhelmed by polyester fabric that didn't fade and didn't wrinkle.

By working together, industries such as cotton could pool their resources and speak with one voice. The assessment that is made is self-imposed funding by the industry to help itself. The monies are collected, and the program is designed and run by an industry board. Taxes are monies collected by the government for use by the government. Monies collected by checkoffs go directly to the checkoff to be used for research and promotion for that industry alone.

We petitioned the USDA as is our right under the First Amendment to the Constitution. We asked them to allow us to create a program, for which they would provide oversight. The industry pays for this oversight - it is revenue neutral to the government. The government doesn't get any of the money, and there is no cost to the taxpayer.

We did not do this lightly. It is a serious thing we were asking. The oversight is a good thing. A checkoff is audited annually. The checkoff boards must set goals to be met by the program. Every 5 or so years an econometric study must be done that tells whether or not those goals are met. If those goals are not met, the program folds. The USDA makes sure that money is used for what it is supposed to be used for.

A group of us growers and importers started more than three years ago in April of 2008 to study other commodities that have tried these programs. We focused on commodities that were similar in size: blueberries, mangoes, watermelons, sorghum and several others. We facilitated sessions in the four top growing areas of the country. By now there have been at least 100 meetings across the country at state and national Christmas tree meetings discussing the checkoff.

You asked how we can guarantee that the assessment would not be passed on to the consumer. We can't guarantee that. Each grower will make that decision. We are primarily wholesalers. In 2008, I contacted all our buyers, mostly retailers, and asked them how would they feel about this kind of promotion program and the assessment. They were all supportive and excited to get the kind of help in the marketplace that the checkoff could supply. Some offered to pay the whole thing, and some offered to split the cost, should it come into being.

Farmers know dirt. We know how to grow things. But in this changing world, is it not enough to grow a great product. We have to let people know about our product. That takes time, coordination and money.

Some people have asked why we don’t just pool our resources and keep USDA out of it. In the last 20 years, there have two very strong voluntary programs initiated by the industry that raised nearly a million dollars each. We have found, as every industry we studied found, that voluntary programs have a life of about three years. The volunteers running the program and paying into the program burn out. Everyone in the industry benefits, but only a few carry the burden. These two programs had great impact on our industry's ability to promote our product. We know promotion and research work. We have to do it as an industry to survive. A checkoff is fair, equitable and can supply sustainable monies.

Betty Malone, Sunrise Tree Farm

Don't Believe Everything You Read ...

The NCTA office has been busy this morning – even busier than usual this time of the year. In case you missed it (and at least according to Twitter, almost no one has), several news media reported that Obama had donned a Grinch outfit and swept in to ruin Christmas for everyone by instituting a Christmas Tree tax.

Raise your hand if you heard this story and worried about the effect it would have on your Christmas Tree this year … ok, you can put your hands down because we want to set the story straight. There is NO Christmas Tree tax.

Yesterday, the USDA announced a final rule for the Christmas Tree Promotion, Research and Information Order, also known as a checkoff program. Not sure what that means? Well here are the basics:

1) President Obama does not hate Christmas – this program has nothing to do with the Obama Administration. In fact, agricultural producers have created promotional boards like this one since 1966. Christmas Tree producers, as an industry, began work on a potential checkoff program, more than four years ago.

2) Christmas Trees are not the only agricultural commodity that have a promotion board. If you’ve ever heard of “Got Milk?” or “The Incredible Edible Egg,” then you’re familiar with the work of promotion boards. Many producers, from dairy farmers to livestock producers to blueberry growers, have created research boards because it increases their markets and they prosper.

3) This is not your tax dollars at work. There are zero tax dollars involved here. Some have asked about the necessity of government involvement – this is to ensure fairness and is required by law. But the industry foots the bill for all necessary costs and administration.

4) You’re not going to see higher prices when you go to purchase your tree this Christmas. This is self-funded by producers who sell or import more than 500 trees. In fact, many growers have been paying much more than 15 cents a tree in the past to voluntary marketing programs, as well as their individual marketing costs.

We know there’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there, but we want to make sure you, the consumers, have the facts. Click here for more information.

Update: Just wanted to share a couple of articles we've seen.

• Media Matters does a recap of yesterday's events.
• Some background on checkoff programs
• Looks like it even hit Snopes